December 15, 2008 Earworm

The earworm for today is "(Let Me Be Your) Teddy Bear" by Elvis Presley - and some of you know why.

Released in 1957, it was the second snip in the neutering of the sex bomb - the first being Steve Allen's cruel "Hound Dog" performance - this time, at the hands of Col. Tom Parker. As an inside job, it shows that that the first cut may be the deepest but it still may not be the one that hurts the most.
Written by Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe, the royalty windfall helped propel their Cameo Records into Philly's own hit factory, as well as to create a few of the Bobbys that would fill the charts while Elvis was away.

October 09, 2008 Earworm

The shock of seeing Chrissie Hynde fronting a whole new set of Pretenders on the Today Show was quickly overshadowed by the fact that the song they performed, "Love's A Mystery", made me want to drive to the store to buy the new album, "Break Up The Concrete". This excitement for a new Pretenders' release hasn't happened for me since 1994's "The Last Of The Independents" was previewed by "Night In My Veins"*.

This time out, the album is touted as a flirtation with rock-a-billy which is true but the real point is that Chrissie's cut to the chase and returned to the basics that made the first Pretenders album so entertaining. Oh, and they've thrown in some weeping country guitar.

"Love Is A Mystery" tries to tell us that it's harder now for couples to stick together than in the past which is an odd thing to hear from a woman who has more than thirty years of failed relationships behind her. Yet it's probably that history that allows her to toss off a long over-due classic Chrissie lyric like "Lovers of today are becoming too well versed - 'get the feeling you're on the stage, badly unrehearsed" in her typical matter-of-fact fashion, and still sounding as though she already has her eyes on her next potential co-star.

Good show.

*the single for "Night In My Veins" contains one of the best versions of "Angel Of The Morning" that I've ever heard.

May 19, 2008 Earworm

As P.J. Proby's UK success wound down, he scored a surprise US hit in '67 with the funky Pat and Lolly Vegas song, "Niki Hokey". Climbing to #23, it was his best showing in his native land but, unfortunately, it would be his last. Liberty Records - lacking foresight - probably thought that they'd finally discovered what it was that the US would accept from him and released a rather pedestrian cover of Hank Ballard's "Work With Me Annie" backed with the menacing "You Can't Come Home Again (If You Leave Me Now". Disc jockeys began to play the former but, when Proby was cooking, he sounded as though he were singing with his erection as a microphone and even a pedestrian cover of "Work With Me Annie" comes across as too lascivious. With little lyrical content to work with, P.J. sounds as though he was looking for relief from blue balls and it was probably too much for listeners. If someone would have flipped the record over, it may have fared better than it's #119 peak because "You Can't Come Home Again..." showcases exactly what Proby was; the sordidly soiled link between the heretic hip swiveling of the young Presley and the panty catching posturing of Tom Jones.

Proby could have been a god, but...